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CPA exam prep innovator Newton D. Becker dies at 83

Newton D. Becker, whose preparatory course led to CPA exam success
for hundreds of thousands of accountants, died Monday in Los Angeles
after a lengthy illness. He was 83.

Becker was the founder and driving force behind Becker CPA Review,
which he started in his hometown of Cleveland and grew into a
successful national business. It’s been estimated that as many as half
the CPAs in the United States passed the exam with the help of his
course, which combined short audiotape segments followed by problems
for students to work on to apply what they had learned.

DeVry Institute purchased the business, which came to be called
Becker Professional Education, in 1996. Becker worked until his 70th
birthday, retiring in 1998.

“He was absolutely dedicated to student success,” said Tom Vucinic,
former president of Becker Professional Education. “What he did,
besides put together what we all believe is the best curriculum … is
he instilled by his own leadership this culture of, ‘We care about our
students. We want them to pass.’ ”

Becker once worked as a CPA in the Price, Waterhouse & Co.
office in Cleveland. After he passed the CPA exam with difficulty,
Vucinic said, he didn’t think there was a quality review program for
people who planned to take the exam.

He used his own notes to start a CPA review course in 1957 for the
staff of Price, Waterhouse, teaching for free on his own time. He left
Price, Waterhouse in 1960 to devote more time to his course. By 1966,
it was the nation’s pre-eminent preparatory system for the exam.

“In many respects, Newt was a genius,” said Norm Meonske, a close
friend and Kent State University professor who has been a Becker
instructor for more than 30 years. “And he was an entrepreneur. He
knew how to put together this course and have it taught across the
country and get consistent results at a low price.”

Meonske said Becker also knew how to motivate students and
employees, and he was driven to constantly improve the course and keep
it relevant. Until 1996, the CPA exam was made public months after it
was taken, and Becker had his staff review each question to ensure it
was covered in the audiotapes. If it wasn’t, Becker would add it for
the next year.

The course was structured to help students remain engaged. Many
students already were working eight-hour days—and often longer—in the
accounting profession, and Becker realized that it would be difficult
to keep their attention through a lengthy lecture.

So he personally recorded five- to eight-minute segments to be
played at more than 100 classrooms across the country where the course
was being given. Then he had instructors put questions on an overhead
projector for students to work through during the four-hour
classes.

More than 400,000 people who took his course have
passed the exam and become CPAs. Meonske said Becker often allowed
students who had financial difficulties take his course for free or at
reduced rates.

“He’s made a better life for these people by helping them get
through the exam,” Meonske said.

Beta Alpha Psi honored Becker with a Business Information
Professional of the Year Award in 2008. In 1985, Becker received the
Distinguished Alumni of the Year Award from the College of Business
Administration at Kent State, where he received his bachelor’s degree
in business administration in 1952. Kent State awarded him an honorary
doctorate in 1984.

Becker also became a prominent philanthropist and supporter of the
environment. He was the founding investor and chairman of the board of
Luz International, a solar energy company with headquarters in Los
Angeles and research and manufacturing facilities in Jerusalem. He
also invested in and chaired the board of directors of a company
called Electric Fuel, which made zinc air batteries for electric vehicles.

He is survived by his wife, Rochelle; sons David, Daniel, Brad
Gordon and Bryan; daughter, Laura Mintzer; and nine grandchildren. A
memorial service is scheduled for 2 p.m. Pacific Standard Time today
at Tanach Chapel at Mount Sinai Memorial Parks and Mortuaries in
Hollywood Hills, Calif.

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